SAChE Certificate Program Level Two (Intermediate) Courses | AIChE

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SAChE Certificate Program Level Two (Intermediate) Courses

Chemical engineers must know the risks associated with their work, and the level-two courses are designed to expose students to the technical and management aspects of process safety. Students will learn about anticipating what can go wrong, evaluating the severity of the consequences, and what can be done to prevent or mitigate the consequences. The time commitment for students to complete the entire Level 2 curriculum is 35 hours

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Understanding of basic process safety principles that enables their application in an industrial or commercial environment
  • A practical understanding of hazards and risks, and methods to enable their identification and mitigation
  • A practical understanding of the principal hazards (toxicological hazards, fire and explosion hazards, etc.) and the science behind them
  • A basic understanding of qualitative and quantitative methods, techniques and tools (dispersion modeling, for instance) that can be used to evaluate the consequences of chemical releases, fires, explosions and runaway reactions
  • Understanding of the technical elements of Risk-Based Process Safety (Process Knowledge Management and Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment)
  • A basic understanding of what can go wrong and key technological safeguards, such as relief devices and instrumentation, that are used to protect against the consequences of failures

Getting Started

These courses are designed for students entering their senior year and will focus on real-world applications of process safety. Students should be enrolled in upper-level chemical engineering courses.

Note to Professors on Level Two Curriculum

  • Level-one courses should be taken before assigning level-two courses, unless students have studied equivalent material in their school curriculum
  • Assign level-two courses before students complete their senior year
  • Schools may choose to include SAChE courses as part of their curriculum
  • Schools may choose to elaborate on the SAChE courses, though the SAChE curriculum stands on its own
    • Level-two courses may be assigned in any order; however the following sequence is recommended:

(a) “Toxicological Hazards,” ”Chemical Reactivity Hazards,” “Fire Hazards,” “Explosion Hazards,” “Source Models”,  ” “Atmospheric Dispersion”, and “Understanding Hazards and Risk” should be taken before taking the four courses on “Hazards and Risk”.

(b) "Fire Hazards" should be completed before taking "Explosion Hazards"

(c) “Source Models” should be completed before taking “Atmospheric Dispersion”

(d) The four courses on “Hazards and Risk” should be completed before taking any of the level-three courses